Manhattan’s Luxury Market Slump Continues into 11th Week

Only 14 contracts were signed for at least $4 million

Nobody would have been expecting an inundation of luxury sales fresh off Labor Day weekend, but according to Monday’s weekly Olshan Report, not only was there a bona fide shortage last week, it was just the latest installment of what has now been an 11-week long, luxury-sale drought.

Only 14 contracts were signed at $4 million and above—Olshan’s definition of luxury—last week, marking the 11th straight week with fewer than 20 contracts signed, the weakest stretch since 2012, the report said.

The most expensive transaction—a 4,420-square-foot duplex penthouse at 78 Irving Place— was asking $20.9 million. It has four bedrooms, a library and a private roof terrace with a fully equipped outdoor kitchen. Four apartments in the new seven-unit condo building went into contract last week, and the building is now sold out, according to the report.

The second most expensive sale was penthouse B at the Halcyon at 305 East 51st St.; the four-bedroom condo was asking $11.75 million and has floor-to-ceiling windows and East River views.

Of the 14 contracts signed, 11 were condos, two were co-ops and one was a condop; no luxury townhouses sold last week.

On the bright side, the total dollar volume of $111.045 million was a vast improvement over the prior week’s paltry $79.994 million—the lowest sales figure this year. That week saw just 12 contracts signed at $4 million and above, also the lowest number of the year.